DeFi & Ethereum News

2023-03-26 05:05:03 FTX Sells Back Stake in Mysten Labs: Report

The sale is part of a series of funding clawbacks that FTX is attempting, to varying degrees of success. Yesterday, lawyers from the FTX Group announced their intention to settle out of court with Modulo Capital, a measure that effectively wiped the VC firms’ books by about 99%. Today, in another bid to raise as many funds as possible, FTX outlined intentions to sell its stake in Mysten Labs back to Mysten.

Unlike Modulo – a company whose capital seems to have been almost entirely FTX-sourced – Mysten Labs, the creators of the Sui blockchain, is a solid firm whose funding round last year saw it hit a valuation of $2 billion. The funding round in question was, indeed, led by FTX. However, the failed exchange was not the only big-league backer: a16z, Binance Labs, Franklin Templeton, Circle Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, and many more well-known firms also invested substantial amounts into Mysten Labs. At the time, FTX bought $1 million worth of SUI tokens and approximately $101 million worth of preferred stock in the company, according to Reuters.

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https://t.me/DeFi_Ethereum Open / Comment

2023-03-25 05:50:03 ARK Invest Bought Again $17.7 Million Coinbase Shares

ARK Invest, the investment management company established by Cathie Wood, has purchased almost $18 million in Coinbase stock despite market turbulence. Merely two days before the Wells notice, ARK Invest sold 160,887 Coinbase shares for $13.5 million via its ARK Fintech Innovation ETF at a price of roughly $83 per share. In 2023, this was the first time any of ARK Invest’s ETFs sold Coinbase shares.

Coinbase has had its share of problems this week, with its stock dropping after the US Securities and Exchange Commission issued a Warning notice over its staking business, Coinbase Earn, and Coinbase Wallet. The company’s share price has not recovered since it disclosed that it had received a Wells notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which resulted in a 20% decline in COIN shares. The exchange has until March 29 to reply to the action and determine whether or not to dispute it. The SEC has revealed preparations to prosecute Justin Sun, the Tron Foundation, the BitTorrent Foundation, and Rainberry for selling unregistered securities.

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https://t.me/DeFi_Ethereum Open / Comment

2023-03-24 06:31:02 SEC investigating Coinbase for its Earn product, wallet service and exchange activity

Exchange giant Coinbase was issued a Wells Notice by the Securities and Exchange Commission, notifying the company of investigations into several offerings and continuing a string of regulatory warning shots fired at crypto firms in the U.S. The notice relates to aspects of the company’s exchange, its staking service, Coinbase Earn and Coinbase Wallet, the company wrote in a blog post.

Coinbase added that it will operate products and services as usual. A Wells Notice is a document the regulator issues to entities that are under investigation — it does not necessarily imply a conclusion or foregone action. Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal said in a statement. "If needed, we welcome a legal process to provide the clarity we have been advocating for and to demonstrate that the SEC simply has not been fair or reasonable when it comes to its engagement on digital assets. The blog post states that the company has met with the SEC more than 30 times in the past nine months alone, but it has been unresponsive.

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https://t.me/DeFi_Ethereum Open / Comment

2023-03-23 05:48:02 Payment restriction in EU anti-money laundering bill irks crypto industry

A single article introduced by the European Parliament to the anti-money laundering rule for commercial crypto payments has stirred Europe's digital asset industry. Policymakers hope that they can close a loophole for untraceable transactions by prohibiting payments over a €1,000 ($1,070) threshold from unregulated crypto payment services providers operating in the European Union.

The industry, however, worries this addition may stray from the regulatory path already outlined in finalized bills — like the soon-to-be-enforced Markets in Crypto-Assets and the Transfer of Funds Regulation — or hinder innovation in the decentralized finance sector. With just one week left before the Parliament cements its version of the anti-money laundering regulation bill in a joint committee vote on March 28, policymakers are working to tweak the language while the crypto industry has mobilized to take a stance. A group of MEPs leading the negotiations on the Parliament's draft are meeting this week.

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2023-03-22 06:32:02 Immutable Passport, Simplify Web3 Gaming Onboarding Is Set To Launch In April

Discover the Future of Gaming with Immutable Passport – the Revolutionary Instant Wallet Onboarding Solution for Web3 Games. Learn how Passport is set to become the default option for studios to onboard mainstream gamers into web3. This revolutionary product is an instant wallet onboarding solution for web3 games, specifically designed to attract and onboard the next billion users into web3.

Immutable Passport is more than just a wallet and authentication solution. It offers passwordless sign-on and automated wallet creation to streamline user onboarding. With battle-tested security measures, it provides a secure platform for frictionless gameplay. Plus, it gives you access to a passionate community of gamers, allowing you to grow and protect your community. Best of all, it’s a non-custodial solution, ensuring your assets remain in your control. Additionally, Passport will integrate with popular games like Shardbound, Gods Unchained, and Guild of Guardians.

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https://t.me/DeFi_Ethereum Open / Comment

2023-03-21 06:43:02 Polygon ID Will Be Integrated Into The Sandbox To Enhance User Security

The Sandbox, a metaverse gaming platform, is collaborating with Polygon Labs to integrate Polygon ID before the end of the year. Polygon ID revealed earlier this month that four tools had been released in Identity Infrastructure to create a better internet that puts identity at the core of it. It provides developers with tools for creating self-sovereign, decentralized, and private identification solutions for users.

Anyone may now become an issuer, verifier, or holder of a Web3 identity by utilizing the Polygon ID infrastructure stack, which is currently accessible under an open-source license to the public. This implies that off-chain data may now be utilized for trustless on-chain verifications in the widely recognized Verified Credential format. ZK technology is an encryption technique that enables to prove and validate information parties without gaining access to it. ZK technology, also known as zero-knowledge technology, refers to protocols and services that use an encryption approach known as zero-knowledge proofs.

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https://t.me/DeFi_Ethereum Open / Comment

2023-03-20 05:56:02 Date for FTX's auction of LedgerX revised for third time

The counsel for FTX filed the notice of revised dates on March 18 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The auction will now be held on April 4 at the offices of Sullivan & Cromwell and a sale hearing will take place April 12, the filing said. Notice of the successful bidder should occur within one business day of the conclusion of the auction.

The auction had previously been scheduled for March 7 and then was revised to March 22, according to court filings. A reason for the most recent date revision was not provided. FTX secured approval early this year to sell business units to raise money for creditors. It is also looking to sell Embed Financial Technologies, FTX Japan and FTX Europe. About 117 parties have shown interest in buying entities of FTX, according to a legal filing at the start of this year. The exchange's U.S. operation acquired LedgerX in Oct. 2021 and rebranded it as FTX.US Derivatives. The auction had been set for two previous dates before being rescheduled.

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2023-03-19 06:03:02 FDIC Denies That Potential Signature Buyers Must Give Up Crypto

A Reuters report previously stated that any purchaser of Signature Bank must agree to divest from crypto clients, a statement the FDIC has now denied. Following the collapse of Silvergate bank – one of the two main banks providing financial services to crypto platforms – former clients began pivoting to competitor Signature, only for the latter to be seized by U.S. authorities, citing significant liquidity issues.

The news dealt a blow to many mainstays of the crypto industry, de-pegging Circle’s USDC and causing uncertainty for Coinbase and Paxos, who, among others, had significant assets stashed away at Signature Bank. Faced with a public lack of trust in the banking sector, U.S. authorities decided over the weekend to place Signature Bank in receivership, informing its leadership mere hours before the public announcement was made. The bank was majorly invested in crypto, with over a quarter of all deposits coming from the industry. The bank and its assets were put up for sale by U.S. authorities.

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https://t.me/DeFi_Ethereum Open / Comment

2023-03-18 06:49:02 Euler Finance Miner Transferred 100 ETH To Notorious Hacker Lazarus Group

On-chain data discovered by Look on Chain shows that a wallet address controlled by Euler Finance’s protocol mining entity recently sent 100 Ether ($170,515) to a wallet associated with the crypto-currency exchange hack the Ronin network of the Lazarus Corporation. Euler Finance, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol that provides on-chain lending was hacked.

The US Treasury Department added Lazarus Corporation to its list of designated entities in April. In January, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said the Lazarus Group and North Korea’s APT38 hacking team were responsible for the $100 million theft of crypto assets from Horizon Bridge. It is not clear whether the Lazarus Group is behind the attack or if there is any connection between them and the mining organization Euler Finance. He retweeted a message shared by a user saying that Euler had 10 audits from 6 different companies and commented that the platform has “always been a privacy-conscious project.”

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https://t.me/DeFi_Ethereum Open / Comment

2023-03-17 06:10:03 Fidelity Crypto quietly went live, giving millions of retail customers access to bitcoin, ether

Fidelity Digital Assets quietly opened access to Fidelity Crypto for the masses recently. Millions of users can now trade bitcoin and ether commission-free on the platform. The app was previously restricted to a waitlist, with users given access on a rolling basis. Fidelity Crypto is open to new and existing customers — first-time customers must create a Fidelity Brokerage account during the setup process.

Bitcoin and ether are the two assets users can trade right now, and trading is commission-free. The firm will charge a spread of no more than 1%. Withdrawals haven't yet been enabled on the platform. Fidelity, which 37.1 million total retail accounts, has acted sooner than most of its peers in the U.S. in offering crypto to retail clients. The full launch happened over the past few weeks, according to sources with knowledge of the matter. The launch coincided with an increasingly hot regulatory environment in the U.S. and the collapse of two of crypto's biggest banking partners, Silvergate and Signature Bank.

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https://t.me/DeFi_Ethereum Open / Comment